Save Article

Rules Are Not Sacred, Principles Are

Updated Aug. 8, 2006 12:01 a.m. ET

In "Over-Lawyered at the SEC" (editorial page, July 26), former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt identified a fundamental problem with the SEC.

For nearly 20 years, until my retirement as SEC secretary, I signed virtually every commission rule. Often, I did this with pride. Occasionally, I did not. On those occasions, I wondered how so many talented lawyers and talented presidential appointees nonetheless "got it wrong."...